we ought to be helping them set up their next elections, which they want to do. so we are also, as i'm sure people are aware, cnn's got a story here about china claim of air rights over disputed islands creates risk of incident. china has wanted to claim this part of the ocean for decades. but they were always afraid of making a move to physically exert claim over this area of the blue water. and yet they obviously have come to believe that the united states is so weakly led right now that they could make claim that part of the sea they were scared to claim in the past and overtly take control over. it hurts our friend, japan. it hurts other allies for us not to take a stand. yet we get reports that this administration is telling our allies, well, just do what china requests. for now. just do what they request. instead of showing strong aadership to stand up against move of aggression. more russia moving radically than we have seen in decades. people just thought russia had gone away. the soviet union did go away. but russia now has perceived a vacuum in world le